Workshops & Events
View past Book Arts Program workshops.
View our signup and refund policy.
Re-licensure points for educators are available from the Utah State Board of Education for all workshops. For more information: Email or call 801-585-6019.
Scholarship Opportunities
Utah K–12 Educators and
University of Utah Students!
The Book Arts Program is pleased to offer a limited number of community workshop scholarships to currently enrolled University of Utah students and Utah K–12 educators. Two scholarships are available for each workshop, one for each type of recipient. Applicants who have not already been awarded a Book Arts Program community workshop scholarship for the current academic year are eligible to apply, and can submit additional applications for more than one workshop. If you are a K–12 educator in Utah or an enrolled University of Utah student, you are eligible to apply!
Applications must be completed in full by eligible applicants and are accepted on a rolling basis up to one month before the workshop. Recipients will be chosen at random from the pool of eligible applicants for each category of recipient. Book Arts Program staff will inform recipients at least three weeks in advance of the workshop. Recipients are responsible for any costs related to materials and tools outside of the workshop fee.
2025 In-Person Workshops
July 2025
Book Arts for K–12 Educators
Allison Chapman
Wednesday & Thursday, July 30–31
10am–5pm
SOLD OUT
This workshop is free and reserved for K–12 Utah educators.
Don’t identify as an artist, but interested in bringing book arts into elementary or secondary classrooms? Join us for this two-day intensive with guest educator, Allison Chapman, and discover how book arts are inherently multi-disciplinary. No previous experience is necessary, but all skill levels are welcome to create both folded and sewn book structures. Emphasis is placed on age-appropriate tools and techniques so that all students are successful in creating books that are bound to be loved. Project samples incorporate science, social studies, English and math lessons and are designed with ease of preparation in mind so that teachers and students can get to the fun part!
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Allison Chapman has been printing since she was young, taught by her grandfather in his hobby printshop. As a college student, she interned with Stan Nelson in the Graphic Arts Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. She then spent over a decade teaching at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, honing her letterpress craft, and running the K–12 outreach program. After inheriting her grandad's nineteenth-century platen press and collection of vintage images and metal type, Allison founded Igloo Letterpress in Minnesota in 1996. In 2008, she moved to Ohio and found a home in Old Worthington, where the one press grew to ten, outfitting a retail shop, print studio, bookbindery, and hub for creativity. Allison closed the retail shop in 2021, and Igloo is again a home-based business offering custom letterpress printing and hand bookbinding.
AUGUST 2025
Family Book Arts Workshop:
Cyanotype Pocket-Book
Rachel Urban
Saturday, August 16
12–3pm
$60 per participant
Children ages six to eighteen are invited to bring adult friends or family members to explore the art of cyanotypes. The cyanotype is one of the earliest photographic processes, made by placing objects directly on coated paper and exposing it to light, resulting in a detailed and vibrant blue image of the objects’ silhouette without using a camera. Participants create unique compositions of plant specimens, drawings, and found objects, exposing the coated paper to light to make a print. Everyone leaves with one-of-a-kind cyanotypes in a pocket-book and a basic understanding of this accessible and fascinating process.
SEPTEMBER 2025
Fundamentals of Blind &
Gold Tooling on Leather
Samuel Feinstein
Saturday & Sunday, September 13 & 14
11am–6pm
$230
SOLD OUT
Please contact the Book Arts Program to be added to the waitlist.
In this two-day class, students learn the fundamentals of blind tooling and gold tooling on leather, focusing on straight lines and using shellac glaire to affix the gold. Line-work is one of the most important, fundamental, and versatile decorative techniques used on tooled bindings, and is used in both traditional and contemporary designs. Students also have time to explore the use of decorative tools within a limited scope. Each participant leaves with a final plaquette using the techniques covered.
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Samuel Feinstein began bookbinding after a traumatic brain injury left him with constant pain and unable to continue his other pursuits. While the pain remains, he found that binding books by hand was a possibility for him. He trained at the North Bennet Street School in the two-year full-time bookbinding program under Jeff Altepeter, full-time instructor, and Martha Kearsley, part-time instructor. He strives to make his dedication and passion evident in his work, with a particular focus on craftsmanship. He currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
OCTOBER 2025
Introduction to Risograph
Book Arts Staff
Wednesday, October 22
4:30–7:30pm
$55
SOLD OUT
Please email bookartsprogram@utah.edu to be added to the waitlist.
What is a Risograph duplicator, and why is it all the rage? The Riso is a Japanese stencil duplicator that blends the functionality of photocopying with the artistry of screen printing. This workshop introduces the requisite skills and best practices for Risograph printing, safe use of the studio cutters, and the Book Arts Studio Use policies. After completing the workshop, participants are invited to apply for independent studio use to produce individual projects. Approved independent users have access to the machine during open studio hours and pay a fee of $10/hour plus materials.
DECEMBER 2025
Print Appreciation &
Booking a Brouhaha Opening
Friday, December 12
4–7pm
Join the Book Arts Program for a double celebration of our annual Print Appreciation and the opening reception for the Booking a Brouhaha exhibition! In the gallery, check out the amazing work from students in academic book arts courses. In the studio, print from a number of provided printing matrices with the option of overprinting these modular elements to match individual taste. We invite the public to drop in and print as many cards as time or wallet allow at $4/card or 3 cards for $10.00. Proceeds support the Book Arts Program outreach and academic programs.
2026 In-Person Workshops
FEBRUARY 2026
Valenteenies: Love Notes & Calling Cards
Amy Thompson
Saturday, February 7
1–5pm
$65
Well before the advent of text messaging, the Victorians announced their presence with tasteful calling cards and passed discrete slips of paper to arrange amorous liaisons. Participants in this lively half-day workshop combine antique dingbats, elegant zinc cuts, and movable type from the program’s collection to craft minuscule missives and petite prints. Students choose from a selection of phrases preset in metal type, set brief original messages of their own, or set their names in the manner of the traditional calling card, then letterpress print their designs on the studio’s clamshell presses. Beginners are entreated to attend this delightful printing excursion, as are more accomplished printers.
MARCH 2026
Book Slices: Assemblage with Books
Sue Cotter
Saturday, March 14
10am–5pm
$120
Discarded books are an inexpensive (often free) treasure trove of assemblage materials and inspiration. In this workshop, participants are guided through the creation of a small assemblage project. A title section sliced from the spine of a discarded book provides the theme of the work and stimulates ideas. Participants excavate the entire book and its usable parts, working on a prepared support panel and building up layers of found objects and other materials as the theme evolves. Participants leave the workshop with an assemblage piece and learn techniques and methods to create similar work on their own.
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Sue Cotter is a letterpress printer, artist-book maker, assemblage, and collage artist. After earning her art degree at the University of Nevada, Reno (1983) she went on to study the historic techniques of letterpress printing and bookmaking with Bob Blesse at the University of Nevada, Reno, Black Rock Press (1988–90). She moved to southern Utah in 1990 where she acquired equipment and established her own letterpress printing and papermaking studio. In recent years, extensive travels have led Cotter to create works that do not require presses and other cumbersome equipment—altered books, books created from unusual found objects, and book-themed assemblage. Cotter has received numerous grants and awards including a Utah Artist Fellowship and a New Forms Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Her work is in Special Collections libraries nationally as well as museums and private collections. She now lives in Parowan, Utah where she and fellow artist Spike Ress have built their home and studios
MAY 2026
Letterpress Printing: Text + Image
Book Arts Staff
Tuesdays, May 12–June 30
4:30–7:30pm
$420
Registration is not yet open. Please check back.
Get a handle on what it takes to crank out an edition of gorgeous letterpress prints. This active, eight-week class introduces the fundamentals of letterpress, from paper selection to mixing ink and printing. Guided by the instructors, participants design and produce individual projects using a variety of relief techniques including metal and wood type, zinc cuts, linoleum blocks, pressure prints, photopolymer plates, and collagraphs. Students should expect to spend time out of class in the studio each week to complete projects.
Introduction to Leather:
Bradel Case Binding
Lili Hall Sharp
Friday & Saturday, May 15–16
10am–5pm
$260
Interested in learning the basics of working with leather as a covering material for handbound books? Join us to learn Lili Sharp's interpretation of the Bradel Case binding, which veers from the traditional structure. The cover is built entirely off the book as a three-part case and the text block is then cased into it, which allows for the parts of the case to be covered in different materials and permits the binder to design the covers off the book. Participants leave the workshop with basic leather working skills and a three-piece Bradel binding.
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Lili Hall Sharp is a design binder, artist, and rare book conservator based in Springville, Utah. She balances a full-time career in book and paper conservation, maintaining a studio art practice, and raising four young boys alongside her artist husband. She studied design binding with Tini Miura, Monique Lallier, Don Glaister, and other respected mentors, and holds a BFA in printmaking and a master’s degree in book conservation and restoration. Lili creates and exhibits fine bindings and artist books, serving as artist, binder, and juror for various exhibitions and editions. She has taught bookbinding, book arts, and decorative paper techniques at universities and workshops, and her work is held in collections both nationally and internationally.
JUNE 2026
Timeless Tomes for Tomeless Times:
Exploring Early Modern Leather Binding
Brien Beidler
Thursday–Saturday, June 18–20
10am–5pm
$365
Participants in this fun, fast-paced workshop will explore 17th and early 18th century binding methods and materials as they create a full-leather binding fit for use and expression in a modern context. Students will employ techniques such as sewing on raised cords and edge trimming in boards, using historic materials such as handmade book board and hide glue. Participants leave with a blind tooled full-leather binding. This class is ideal for anyone searching for an accessible path to learn traditional hand bookbinding with leather, as well as for experienced binders and conservators looking to deepen their knowledge and expand their technical repertoire.
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Brien Beidler is a bookbinder and toolmaker who explores the structure, aesthetics, and impact of pre-industrial bindings. In Brien’s practice, bookbinding and toolmaking are means to investigate the role books have played in the history of ideas and culture. In his binding, Brien is deeply inspired by the processes of traditional bookbinders and uses tools and techniques that replicate the structural and visual properties of historic bindings. In his toolmaking, Brien specializes in hand-engraved finishing tools and other decorative stamps for his own work and other bookbinders, leatherworkers, and woodworkers. He teaches workshops in bookbinding, gold tooling with egg glair, and finishing tool making, and is on the board of Co-Directors for the Paper and Book Intensive. Brien holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the College of Charleston, where he was first introduced to bookbinding in the library’s Special Collections. He was the Director of the Bindery and Conservation Lab at the Charleston Library Society from 2012-2016 before establishing his own practice. His studio is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. www.beidlermade.com
JULY 2026
Sculptural Paper Casting
Nicole Donnelly
Friday–Saturday, July 17–18
10am–5pm
$225
In this two-day workshop, participants learn about three-dimensional paper casting. Beginning with a found or constructed object, participants make simple molds, or an impression in silicone, which resists exposure to water and can be used multiple times to create dimensional paper artwork. After production of the mold, participants use paper pulp and sheets of handmade paper to create casts, or replicas of the original object. The paper cast captures and reproduces fine surface details of the original object, resulting in lightweight and precisely editioned paper sculptures.
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Nicole Donnelly is a hand papermaker and visual artist serving as Executive Director at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking in Cleveland, OH. She founded community accessible studio paperTHINKtank in 2013 and ushered its growth for over ten years in the Philadelphia arts community. She has taught papermaking for over fifteen years, both as a traditional craft and artistic medium, to students of all ages. She served as Collaborative Papermaker to Brandywine Workshop & Archives, the Brodsky Center at PAFA, and now at the Morgan Conservatory. Her creative and academic research has been published by The Legacy Press and Hand Papermaking magazine, and she served as president of IAPMA (International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists) for seven years. Donnelly’s mission is to establish handmade paper as a recognized art medium and preserve its value as a craft.
Educators’ Intensive: Foster Student Curiosity with Book Arts & Printmaking
Jazmin Gallegos & Rachel Urban
July 29–30, Wednesday & Thursday
10am–5pm
This workshop is free and reserved for K–12 Utah educators.
Join fellow educators for an immersive exploration of book arts and printmaking and discover how these versatile mediums can be integrated into your classroom to foster a creative, collaborative community of inquisitive learners. In this two-day, hands-on workshop, educators create a variety of book forms using easy-to-find materials and incorporating printmaking techniques that can easily be replicated in the classroom. Additionally, educators are introduced to the Provisional printing press, available for check-out and classroom use after training. Explore the historical and contemporary significance of printmaking and the physical book and consider how visual storytelling and bookmaking can help students reflect on the world around them, share their ideas, and connect meaningfully with one another. This workshop is grant-funded and free for all Utah educators. USBE re-licensure hours are available. Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis.
Your Place, Your Pace:
Bookmaking Sessions
Join us for Your Place, Your Pace, a selection of pre-recorded workshops designed with your convenience in mind. Enjoy bookmaking from the comfort and privacy of your own home. Each session focuses on a different bookmaking technique and can be completed in one sitting or at your own pace. Take one, or take them all! Participants receive recording links and a materials kit, and are invited to ask questions via email. Availability is limited—don’t miss out!
All workshops are pre-recorded, virtual workshops. Participants receive recording links and materials kit. (Shipping included—an additional $25 will be billed for international shipping.)
Ethiopian Binding
Jazmin Gallegos
$50
Purchase
Flat-Back Case Binding
Emily Tipps
$50
Purchase
Most of the hard-cover books we see at the library, bookstore, or on our shelves at home are casebound. This means that the textblock and cover are created separately then adhered together. In this workshop, participants learn the basics of case binding: sewing a textblock with the French web pattern, lining the spine, building a cloth-covered case, and finally “casing in.” The workshop provides solid ground for exploring different variations; case bindings can be thick or thin, rounded or flat-spined, and covered in cloth, paper, leather, or a combination of materials. These durable bindings make excellent journals, sketchbooks, or housing for longer content. List of required tools
Secret Belgian Binding
Amy Thompson
$50
Purchase
Japanese Stab Binding
Jazmin Gallegos
$45
Purchase
As opposed to the stiffness of western paper, traditional Japanese paper allows this side-stitched book to open readily. This workshop presents three sewing patterns, providing participants with the skills to explore dozens of additional patterns in the future. List of required tools. List of required tools
Customized Bookcloth: Backing Fabric
Emily Tipps
$55
Purchase
The Perfect Binding
Amy Thompson
$45
Purchase
Content Round-Up: the Drum-Leaf Binding
Marnie Powers-Torrey
$45
Purchase
Accordion Variations:
Session 1
Marnie Powers-Torrey
$35
Purchase
Session 2
Marnie Powers-Torrey
$35
Purchase
Endbands: Recipes & Techniques
Emily Tipps
$40
Purchase
The Clamshell Box: a Safe Place for Books
Emily Tipps
$65
Purchase
Coptic Binding
Amy Thompson
$45
Purchase
Long-Stitch with Leather
Amy Thompson
$50
Purchase
The elegant long-stitch has been used for inventive artists’ books and beautiful journals, but don’t be fooled by the apparent complexity of this exposed-sewing binding. Participants receive one set of materials, and the instructor shares examples with an assortment of thread, buttons, covers, and closures to ensure that the long-stitch never gets old. List of required tools
The Book Arts Studio is closed for the summer.
See you in the Fall!
Complete hours (including finals week hours, studio closures, and holidays)